Not applicable.
This invention relates to electronic instruments for detecting a stud or other object behind an opaque surface such as wallboard.
Stud seekers for locating the position of wall studs behind wallboard material forming the wall surface are well known. They are used in hanging pictures, drilling holes and the like. The object of the present invention is to provide a housing for a stud seeker with improvements for marking the wall and leveling a picture or other wall hung object.
The invention provides improvements to a stud seeking housing that is, for example, in the overall shape of the housing disclosed in co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/538,087 filed Mar. 29, 2000. However, a stud seeker housing of the invention also has a bubble level vial attached to it so that one of the long edge surfaces of the housing can be placed against a surface of an object desired to be leveled and the vial used to adjust the orientation of the object. In addition, a housing of the invention may be provided with a scribe tip centrally located on or adjacent to the surface of the housing which is slid along the wall surface being probed and is capable of being used to put a small dent, hole, or scratch line in the surface.
In a preferred aspect, the bubble vial is provided on the front surface of the stud seeker housing parallel with the long edges of the housing and received in a recess which is molded into the housing. An adhesive may be used to hold the vial in the recess.
In another preferred aspect, the scribe tip is provided at a top end of the housing and raised slightly above the rear surface of the housing which is slid along the wall being probed. As such, the housing can be rotated about the top edge of the housing to bring the scribe tip into contact with the wall so as to create the mark in the wall.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the detailed description which follows. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention.